


7 for 7

by noona96n



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic, GOT7
Genre: Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Found Family, Friendship, M/M, Male Friendship, OT7
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:26:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27816781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noona96n/pseuds/noona96n
Summary: it's nearing summer and he's been Choi Youngjae for 7 months when Park Jinyoung comes looking for him-Exy AU / All For The Game AU
Relationships: BamBam & Choi Youngjae & Im Jaebum & Kim Yugyeom & Park Jinyoung & Mark Tuan & Jackson Wang, Choi Youngjae/Park Jinyoung
Kudos: 13





	7 for 7

**Author's Note:**

> basically All For The Game book series, but with GOT7  
> also not really because only the very basic of the plot will stay the same

It's nearing summer and he's been Choi Youngjae for 7 months when people come looking for him.

His first response when Coach Kwon tells him that there are people waiting for him is to run. However, he pauses momentarily because the coach says, "Park Jinyoung and his new team want to speak with you."

Then, he remembers himself and thinks,  _ no. _

"No thanks," Youngjae replies mechanically and he turns to leave the locker room before his Coach can say anything more.

He steps out the door to see Park Jinyoung, Lim Jaebeom and Coach Park of the Sogang Phoenix Exy team standing idly outside. Youngjae quickly pulls the door shut and presses his back against it, heart in his throat. 

"They're outside," Youngjae mumbles, fear taking hold of him but his voice manages to remain stable. He didn’t survive 10 years on the run from his own father for nothing.

His Coach looks at him sheepishly and explains, “I sent them your dossier and they came to watch you play.”

“What," Youngjae breathes in sharply.

"They're very keen on having you on their team," Coach continues, as if Youngjae’s not basically breaking down in the middle of his office.

Youngjae blink, his brain is already working at full speed as he draws up a plan to escape from South Korea and where to lay low for the next five to eight months. He really should have gone back to Southeast Asia, Youngjae thinks belatedly.

"At least hear what they have to say…" Coach reasons, "they're offering you a full scholarship for the whole five years at Sogang as long as you’re playing for the Phoenix."

“I don’t want to be on any team,” Youngjae snaps back and the door is forced open.

He jolts forward from the force of it and Park Jinyoung saunters in like he owns the world. In the world of Exy, he does. He was its beloved little Prince, then he was its King. Now, even with a damaged playing hand, he's still its King, a shining beacon that every player in Exy looks toward.

Watching Park Jinyoung scrutinizing him, Youngjae swallows thickly and thinks; no, it's better to leave Asia all together because the reason why he's currently in this cluster fuck is because they never ventured out of Asia. They should've gone to Prague or Amsterdam. Anywhere would have been safer than their attempt to cross into Taiwanese border. 

Youngjae understands that his mother's family was in Taiwan. He understands that she chose Taiwan because she was trying to get him to somewhere relatively safe and ensured that he won't have to run all his goddamn life. Youngjae still think they should've hopped on the train to Vladivostok instead of the one heading for the port of Xiamen. Hell, they could've even gone back to Southeast Asia after their second near-miss in Suzhou but his mom already bought them passage across the Taiwan Strait. They boarded the ship, sailing for safety, but his mother was quietly battling internal injuries she sustained during the shootout in Suzhou. She succumbed to her injuries shortly after they crossed into Taiwan. The one good thing about Taiwan was that his mom got to die in the comfort of her brother's arms and surrounded by her birth family.

"At least hear what we have to say," Lim Jaebeom, who's just entering the room, says with a friendly smile and Youngjae knows he made a mistake in coming back. 

He shouldn't have come back. His mom might've brought them back to the east but Youngjae could've gone anywhere he wanted afterward, he didn't have to come to Korea.

He should've gone back to Southeast Asia like he promised his uncle. He has accounts in Cambodia, investments and holdings to his name, and he speaks the language, not well, but he'll get better. Hell, his mom even bought him the citizenship, just in case. There's not much tie to the crime syndicate in Korea as most preferred to work with the Chinese so he wouldn't have to worry too much about getting caught. The social security is lax there and he could invest in more local businesses or create his own or he could even marry into a rich family and be set up for the rest of his life. He'd have a chance to live a long life in Cambodia. A relatively normal, yet boring and unfulfilled, life but he would've  _ lived _ . Until he's old and wrinkly and with too much money to spend.

Here, in South Korea, he's merely surviving. It's thrilling and he's happy on some days but everyday here could be his last. Still, it's _ home _ . Youngjae lived on other countries' soil and speaks too many languages for most of his life but his childhood is here, his bedtime stories were from  _ here. _

Youngjae still writes Korean in the nationality info box.

Sentiment, Youngjae thinks with a sneer, look where it got him now. In a room with nowhere to run and Park Jinyoung at its entrance.

-

Park Jinyoung, the one thing in his godforsaken life his mom couldn't beat out of him.

Park Jinyoung and his clever hands, fast footwork and the King chess piece tattoo on his pretty face.

Park Jinyoung and Exy.

-

Park Jinyoung is the player and Exy may only be a game but they’re not two separate entities. Exy exists  _ because _ of Park Jinyoung and Park Jinyoung introduced the game to the international stage. 

You see, when Park SunYe was in Japan, split between taking care of her four year old son, Jinyoung, and doing her Master’s in Sport Science, she and Moriyama Tetsuji developed a game to keep little Jinyoung occupied. Jinyoung played it with Tetsuji’s niece, Riko, and their guardians’ fellow lab-mates and called it Exy.

It was just a children’s game back then but when SunYe and Jinyoung returned home, they took the game with them to Korea. Jinyoung played it with his neighborhood friends, his school friends and then the sport just suddenly caught on like a house on fire. It was played nationwide; in the backyard, in high school, in  _ university _ , and two years later, the Exy Rules & Regulations Committee (ERC) was created. SunYe and Tetsuji were the co-presidents of the committee and Jinyoung and Riko basically became the mascots of Exy and star players despite their young age. 

SunYe and Tetsuji also founded the very first college Exy Team, the Korean National Institute of Technology (KNT). But about seven years ago, SunYe passed away in an automobile accident and Tetsuji took in Jinyoung, retired from the ERC to coach the KNT Honeybee full time. 

Park Jinyoung and Moriyama Riko are the twin stars of the sport. They're thought to be inseparable; after all, they are its children, its  _ legacy _ . Jinyoung more so than anyone because it was created to keep him company.

However, devastatingly, Jinyoung was involved in a rock-climbing accident last summer and his playing hand was ruined in the process. He was forced to retire from professional playing and went into coaching. Jinyoung did coach; taking over some of Tetsuji’s responsibility as Honeybee’s co-coach. But only until winter. Because after the annual Exy Gala that’s held every December, Jinyoung disappeared off the face of the Earth then reappeared in spring as Sogang Phoenix’s striker.

-

Youngjae ends up sitting across Coach Park Jaebum in the locker room as Lim Jaebeom loiters around Park Jinyoung, shifting on his feet. Coach Kwon is beside him, providing minimal sense of comfort as Park Jinyoung cajoles him into joining the Sogang Phoenix Exy Team.

It's halfway through the conversation that Youngjae realizes that Park Jinyoung doesn't know who he is. 

“You’re inexperienced and that’s not exactly someone we want for the Phoenix,” Jinyoung says, “we want someone who’s been playing a while and plays well.”

A part of Youngjae is glad that, despite the minimal effort, altering his appearance paid off. It's nothing drastic but he always wears his hair short with an undercut and parted away from his face. The exact opposite of how his mom likes to wear her hair; long with a front bang to frame her angelic face. He even goes as far as dyed his hair a shade of brown and wears contact since he's living in South Korea and the likelihood of bumping into previous associates is higher.

He wanted to go under the knife. Still considers it most of the time. Youngjae looks too much like his mom and that's risky so he definitely should alter as much of his face as he could to eliminate any likeness with her. Especially now that he's living in South Korea. But he can't… his face is the only reminder of his mother.

He should. But he can’t because he's sentimental.

He should. But he's still not strong enough to live without his mom. 

Also, he reasons, he was still a minor when he was settled anywhere with any decent plastic surgeon and, after he came of age, he was on the run. Now, it's just too risky for him to try. Plus, on legal paper, he's barely eighteen, no surgeon in South Korea will accept his case.

What’s important is, Jinyoung doesn’t recognize him.

And that means he can accept the offer to play backliner for the Phoenix. It means he can play  _ with  _ Park Jinyoung. 

Still, he asks, “Then why are you here then?” just because he has the image of a sassy child to maintain.

“Because Coach Kwon sent us a tape of you playing along with your shitty stats,” Jinyoung replies and Captain Lim puts a hand on his lap, patting the limb softly.

It’s a blatant gesture filled with intimacy and Youngjae’s reminded of all the rumors of why Jinyoung moved from KNT Honeybee to Sogang Phoenix after the freak rock-climbing. And among the many rumors were that Jinyoung was secretly dating Captain Lim and was waiting for the opportunity to switch teams so he can be open about his relationship since the two are incredibly chummy after Jinyoung signed up as the Phoenix’s striker. Never mind the fact that said opportunity was basically the accident that killed his career as a professional Exy player. 

“What Jinyoungie meant was that despite your shaky techniques, you play very passionately and very well and we want that kind of passion for our team,” Captain Lim says and Youngjae can see why Coach Park makes him the captain despite his track record with drugs; he’s caring and well-spoken.

Youngjae looks at Coach Kwon helplessly because he knows he’s on the verge of signing that contract if he continues to stare at Jinyoung’s face. Coach Kwon just nods his head encouragingly and Youngjae looks away.

Only to come face to face with Jinyoung. 

“”Your techniques are shit but you defended your goal like you have everything to lose,” Jinyoung tells him blandly, “and that’s the only kind of backliner worth playing with.”

Youngjae swallows and looks away, his fingers are a quivering mess on his laps. He has everything to lose because playing Exy is risking his survival. Playing Exy with Park Jinyoung will be his death sentence.

But- 

He’s not ready to give it up yet. Not when Exy gave him purpose, anchor him.

But leaving means he gets to live another day. It means he’ll survive even if he has to change his name, and location, and his way of life. Again. 

But-

He’s not ready to give it up yet. He’s not  _ willing  _ to give it up because he finally has purpose again after his mom left him. Not when Exy makes him happy. Not when Exy makes him live rather than just merely surviving.

Coach Park’s sigh brings him back to reality and he looks away from Jinyoung. He swats Jinyoung lightly on the back of the head and chides, “Jesus Christ, Jinyoung, that’s not how you convince people to join our team.”

From the corner of his eyes, Youngjae can see Jinyoung pouting. He has never seen Jinyoung acting anything but completely professional so to see Jinyoung so candid is… 

He wants to see more of it.

Coach Park sits up in his seat and gestures at Jinyoung and Captain Lim, “You two, wait for me outside.” 

Jinyoung looks like he’s about to protest but Captain Lim squeezes his thigh and he gets on his feet obediently. When they’re out the door, Coach Park turns to him and says, “Look, Kwon-shhi was really insistent about recommending you to me.”

Youngjae looks at his coach blankly and his coach replies sheepishly, “You never told me explicitly but I noticed you staying at school a couple of nights per week and you never change in front of us or let me meet your parents...”

So he can only assume the worst, Youngjae finishes in his head. And the worst that Coach Kwon can think of is abusive parents, not a fake teenager who’s on the run from his own murderous father. 

“Also, despite his harsh words, Jinyoung really wanted you on our team” Coach Park starts after a few seconds of silence. He gestures at the contract between them and continues, “and whatever problem you’re having, this contract just might solve it.”

It won’t. Nothing can solve his problem.

But-

The offer from Coach Park is irresistible because it’s an excuse for Youngjae to stay in Korea longer. To play Exy longer. To play with Park Jinyoung. 

It’s a scholarship offer for five years at Sogang University but Youngjae doesn’t have to stay for the whole five years. He can leave anytime. And maybe, staying close to Jinyoung can help know when to pack up. 

Youngjae looks up from the contract and asks, “Can I get a pen?”

Coach Park’s smile is absolutely blinding as Youngjae signs his death sentence. 

-

**Author's Note:**

> this was on the back burner for nearly a year now... but last piece comeback gave me so much serotonin and motivation i finally manage to finish the first chapter and yeet this out  
> not sure if i'll be able to write it properly but oh well  
> at least i have a lot of plot stuff written down?  
> -  
> hit me up on [twitter ](https://twitter.com/noona96nwrite) or [curiouscat ](https://curiouscat.me/noona96n)  
> i also write for other got7 ships, check out my other works too (◍•ᴗ•◍)


End file.
